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WARNING: This story references sexual assault allegations and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
The fourth of seven female complainants is testifying inside a Toronto courtroom on the fifth day of the sexual assault trial of Canadian businessman Frank Stronach .
Stronach, 93, faces a total of 12 charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement. Two of the counts, rape and attempted rape, are considered historical charges as they were abolished when the Criminal Code was amended in 1983 to create the offence of sexual assault.
Stronach is also set to face a separate trial in Newmarket, Ont., later this year after the case was split into two proceedings.
The allegations by the seven women in Toronto span the period between 1977 and 1990, with one specified as having happened in suburban Scarborough.
Court has already heard from three women who related details of their alleged assaults by the founder of auto-parts giant Magna International. All seven complainants are expected to testify at the judge-alone trial being overseen by Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy.
On Wednesday, court heard from a woman, now in her 70s, who claimed Stronach attempted to rape her in a midtown Toronto apartment in 1977.
She told court that after having dinner with Stronach at the restaurant establishment he owned back then, she accepted an invitation to go back to his apartment. Once in the apartment, Stronach disappeared for a brief time, she said.
The next thing she knew, he was behind her pushing her over the well-padded arm of a chair, trying to rape her, she said. She told the court that there was never any penetration, that she stood up, grabbed her purse and coat, and exited the apartment.
During cross examination, which often featured combative exchanges, Stronach’s lawyer Leora Shemesh challenged the woman’s testimony with her previous statements and police interviews.
Shemesh referred to the woman’s interview with police in 2024 in which she said she didn’t consider herself a victim from the alleged assault.
The woman responded to Shemesh: “I’m a survivor.”
Shemesh also suggested that the woman was mistaken about the midtown location of where she said the attack occurred. Shemesh said Stronach, in 1977, was “associated to” a downtown unit at Harbourfront. The woman said she was not mistaken.
